EP Review: The Surrealists – Terrortoma

If you like fast and frenetic punk fused with heavy guitar riffs and screamed vocals, then Leicester-based The Surrealists are just the ticket.

The self-proclaimed ‘quartet of noise’ have just released new EP Terrortoma, and it’s well worth a listen. The EP is chocked full of frenetic guitar solos, big loud chords, heavy bass and smashing drums, which the band themselves aptly define as ‘extreme noise.’ It’s a little bit mad, but in a brilliant way.

Opening track Turbines is a superb way to be introduced to the band. It opens with slow arpeggios before bursting into a fast-paced punk riff and then kicking into life with a rocky blitz of energetic punk rock. There’s plenty in here for those of us who like the occasional headbanging session, with big, fast, loud riffs and energetic shouted punky choruses. The song pauses half-way through, which makes you think it’s come to an abrupt ending, but soon meanders through some guitar experimentation as it concludes a bit bizarrely – which is what The Surrealists so fun.

Next up I Had An Error sounds almost like something you’d expect to hear on Nirvana’s Incesticide album, and may well be my favourite song on the EP. It starts off with some slow guitar chords, then a big-assed scream before exploding into full-on hardcore punk mode, with huge guitars and driving drums that can’t fail but have you bobbing head in time with it. There’s a musical interlude of lightning fast guitar riffs and some call-and-answer between guitars, with some screamed vocals thrown in for good measure.

The brilliantly named Glenn Branca from Sri Lanka picks up where we left off – seven minutes of lightning fast punk that makes it impossible not to jump up and down and smash your head along in appreciation. The Surrealists are all about the instrumentalism, but there’s a brilliant bit in the middle of the song where the music stops for a voice to state ‘Did you know Glenn Branca is actually from Sri Lanka?’ and a following ‘Woooow’ that made me chuckle out loud the first time I heard it. The song descends into madness with a saxophone solo, which feeds straight into a keyboard solo.

Penultimate track Pseudophiles kicks off with a funky bass solo before a choppy guitar riff. It’s more relaxed than what’s preceded it, with bursts of screaming and their trademark extreme noise, but once again it’s another really exciting listen. Check it out in the video below:

The EP concludes with the, again, brilliantly named Contradickhead, which opens up with a full-on burst of guitar noise and screaming. The bass is again prominent as it supports a funky guitar riff and sweeping distorted chords, before a bizarre musical interlude that ends with – again Nirvana-esque – guitar noise.

I’ve not heard anything like this in a while, and you have to listen to Terrortoma to understand how awesome this blitz of rock / metal noise is. I can only how imagine how good / absolutely crazy they are live, so I recommend getting a bit of The Surrealists into your life.

Check out The Surrealists on Facebook and Twitter and get your hands on the awesome Terrortoma EP here. And if you like what you hear then you can see the band in action at The Shed in Leicester on Wednesday evening (26th October).